Tank and floating roof



March .12, 1940. J JONES TANK AND FLOATING ROOF Filed Jan. 12, 1955 R Eu w ,m .wJ M 5 N E F. v A W 6\ ddd d d d C d d dcccc d ddb d/ 0 d a b d b d d d b b dd\ /d, C d dd d d b.//.ddd\

c Jo/m E Jones A Q T'TORNEY.

' Patented Mar. 12, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT orrlcs John mum Jones, mat. N. J.

Application January 12, 1935, Serial No. 1,477

.11 Claims.

My invention relates to a reservoir and particularly relates to a reservoir or tank for storing oil or other liquids.

It is, therefore, an object of my invention to construct a floating pan for a reservoir which will substantially seal the interior of the reservoir from the atmosphere when said pan is in its uppermost position.

It is another object of my invention to construct a floating pan so that water which will accumulate upon the upper surface of the pan serves as a seal when the reservoir is filled.

Another object of my invention is to provide a seal between the floating pan and the inner wall of the reservoir when the tank is only partly filled and the pan is not close enough to the top to cause a complete seal.

Another object of my invention is to provide a combined guide plate and a liquid seal.

Another object is to make the tank waterproof whereby water accumulated either from rain or snow will not seep into the tank.

A further object is to construct a pan or deck that will keep the inner surface of the pan from oxidizing because of its contact with the air provided its outer surfaces are suitably covered with a protective coating, such as paint.

A further object of my invention is to fabricate the deck of steel sheets so that the finished product serves to shed water, that accumulates thereon, towards the peripheral edge and, also, serves to shed the water along the peripheral edge of the roof or pan towards the drain or drains.

Another object of my invention is to provide a horizontal reenforcing plate around the inside wall of the tank at its uppermost edge to keep the top of the tank round and to prevent strong winds from bending orflexing the tank out of shape. The horizontal reenforcing plate or the short peripheral roof serves several purposes, it acts as a wind brace and, also, as a support for the baflie plate as well as the downwardly extending interior plate.

A further object of my invention isto fabricate the pan of steel sheets so that the finished product serves to shed water that accumulates thereon towards a drain, or drains.

Another object of my invention is to construct a floating roof, deck or pan so that itwill slope towards the drain pipe or pipes without the use of trusses, pontoons or a roof above it fordrainage purposes.

Another object of my invention is to provide a floating roof, deck or pan which will be simple in construction and light as possible in weight, because each pound of material floating on the liquid in the container displaces a point of said liquid thereby controlling, to some extent the storage capacity of such container.

Another object of my invention is to construct a combination tank and floating roof so that when the roof is at or near its uppermost position a depending flange carried bythe narrow stationary roof projects downwardly on the inside of the rim of the floating roof into liquid lying on the top of said floatingroof to produce a seal which will prevent valuable oil vapors from escaping.

Another object of my invention is to provide means which will permit vertical movement of the deck or pan while holding it against rotation and thus prevent the drain pipe from being broken or otherwise damaged.

It is tobe particularly noted, as shown in Fig. 5, that the horizontal diameter of the deck of the floating roof or pan, is made'up of a greater number of the lighter plates than any other diameter thus providing what I choose to call a divide.

With the above and related objects in view, my invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts that will be fully described when the description is read in conjunction with the drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an oil reservoir embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, with the pan in the position it 'would assume if the tank were filled with liquid.

Fig. 3 is an engaged fragmentary sectional view of the guide members and seals.

Fig. 4 is a modified sectional view of the guide and seal members.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the roof showing a diagrammatic designation of plates of different thicknesses that form the roof or pan.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, in Fig. 1 I show a tank or reservoir, generally designated as A, and a floating pan or deck, generally designated as B, that serves as the roof for the tank A.

The tank A for storing oil or other liquid has a horizontally extending bottom l0, and a vertically extending cylindrical peripheral wall I2 that is comprised of either abutting sheets of steel or of overlapping sheets of steel properly joined together either by welding or by riveting, or as may be found desirable the wall may be built of sections using the combination of rivets and welding. A short peripheral roof H extends towards the vertical central axis of the tank and horizontally from the upper portion of the vertically extending wall l2; and a plurality of braces, "each of which is designated as l6, aid in supporting the short roof H. A short vertically extending baille flange ll hangs from the inner horizontal surface of the roof II and is located between theinner edges of the roof ll. From the free edge of the short roof it, a cylindrical flange l8 extends vertically downwardly for a distance greater than the extent of the plate l1. a

The pan B is made up of a series of plates a, b, c, d, which may be abutting or overlapping, and the central series of plates a, b, c, are constructed of thinner materials on a higher plane than the peripheral series of plates 11. By way .of example, plates designated as a are inch thick, plates b are inch thick, plates c are inch thick, and plates 11 are inch thick. As viewed in Fig. 1, the plates a, b, c, d have sides which extend radially towards the center of the pan, but the precise shape is immaterial and the shape above described is merely illustrative, see for example Fig. 5. -'Ihe intermediate plates b and c are comprised of metal, which are of a heavier material than the central plate a, and the peripheral plates are of the heaviest material. Because of the particular arrangement of the plates of different thicknesses the top surface of the roof pan or deck is inclined radially fromits center and also from two diametrically opposite points on the perimeter to two other diametrically opposite points, which latter points are in a diameter at right angles to the diameter in which the first two mentioned points are located. This will cause the water in the roof pan to drain towards the lower levels of the deck to provide sealing liquid and also to provide for draining the liquid from the roof at the two lowest points. 0n the lower surface of the central plates are a plurality of pontoons 26, fl which give added buoyancy to v the center of the pan. A circular vertically extending rim or flange is connected to the outermost plates and is suitably braced to the pan by means of the angular braces 32. The rim 30, also consists of plates of different thicknesses or heft with the lighter weight plates contiguous the divide and said rim is located adjacent the flange l8, so that the flanges l8 and the rim 3!! form a telescopic wall to accommodate the change in volume of the liquid of the tank. A combined seal and guide plate, generally designated as C, comprised of flexible thin metallic material, is mounted upon the outer surface of the rim 30. The guide plate has one marginal edge 34 suitably attached to the vertically extending flange or rim 3!) either by rivets or by welding, and the portion designated as 36 extends upwardly at an angle from the flange so that a non-freezing liquid 38 may be retained therein. I'he other end 40 of the plate is curved downwardly so that it rests in direct contact with the vertical wall of the reservoir. The tendency of the plate to expand because of its flexibility insures that the flange will always be in contact with the side wall of the tank, thus, the plate C serves to definitely position the deck from the vertical wall of the tank. The vertically extended baflie flange l'I projects into the nonfreezing liquid 38 held by the guide plate 0 and the rim 30 of the pan B when the deck is in its uppermost position, thus creating a liquid seal to prevent the egress or ingress of gases.

In order to provide a suitable seal for the reservoir when the pan is lowered, I provide another seal, which is generally designated as D. The seal D is comprised of an anguiariy upwardly extending plate 42, which has one end fixed to 6 the rim 30 and its free end bent to serve as a catch or hook M. A curved plate ll has one end 48 formed as a hook to complement and interflt with the hook 44 on the anguiariy disposedprojection 42 and its other end I56 is sufliciently curved to extend for a relatively great distance from the internal wall of the reservoir. The in- I herent weight of the free end tends to swing and, therefore, the wall of the reservoir is en- 15 gaged with the curved portion of the plate 48, which provides a mechanical gas seal for the reservoir. If the inherent weight of the free end of the seal is not sufllcient to cause the plate 48 to contact the wall, a weight may be added on the end 50 to pull the seal against the reservoir wall; To further insure a seal to diminish gas leakage which may be brought about by an imperfectly formed Joint at the hooks, I fill the trough formed by the anguiariy disposed member and the rim with a liquid it which is nonfreezing at ordinary temperature, as is well illustrated in Fig. 3.

The long cylindrical flange l8 extends adjacent to the rim 30 and close to the upper surface of the peripheral plates of the deck 13 so that the tip of the flange projects into the liquid which may accumulate from rain or snow or which may be artificially placed upon the upper surface of the deck, thus, forming another liquid seal only 35 during the time the deck is in its uppermost position. Thus, during the time the tank is filled with liquid and the deck is in its uppermost position, the contents of the tank will be sealed from the atmosphere by two liquid seals, one seal being 4'' between the flange l1 and the liquid 38, and the other seal as hereinbefore described.

The seal D may be positioned on the flange so that it' is above, on the same plane, or beneath the horizontal plates in deck 3. In Figs. 2 and 45 3 I show the lower seal D positioned above the deck. and in Fig. 4 I show the seal D positioned in a plane lower than the plane in which the deck is located. A flange SBA extending in the same plane as the flange 30, serves as a support for the seal D when the seal D is located beneath the surface of the deck. A modified location of the drain pipe 58A is shown in Fig. 4 and the brace 32 is also shown.

To prevent .theaccumuiated gases or vapors from blowing off the top of the tank, I provide a gas release pipe 52 located on the roof of the reservoir. A valve may be inserted in the pipe to release the gas or vapor when the pressure exceeds a predetermined value.

The pan B is suitably anchored to prevent rotation by means of a chain or cable 54 which is looped around and connected to a vertically extending rail 56. The rail 56 extends along the inner wall of the tank.

To prevent a large accumulation of water on the upper surface of the pan, I employ a drain pipe 58 which is suitably located and connected by means of swivel jointsjil, SI, 62, to a drain so that the pan will always be drained to a certain fixed level either when the reservoir is fllled or empty. This is accomplished by connecting the various drain pipes so that they can swivel or turn on various axes to expand or contract.

The drains and drain pipes, when associated with the periphery oi the floating roof or pan, are located in thediameter at right angles to the divide and these positions are adjacent the heaviest areas of the deck. This arrangement of plates of different thicknesses and weights causes the areas of the floatingrooi which are made up of the heavier plates to sink to a lower level in the supporting liquid. It, therefore follows that, as herein disclosed, the periphery of the pan will sink lower than the center thereof and the portions adjacent the drain pipes 58 will sink lower than the other portions or the portions adjacent the divide. From the foregoing it will be obvious that, as illustrated, the top surface of the deck slopes generally towards the periphery and around the periphery towards the drain pipes 58.

A gage pipe 64 for measuring the height of the oil in the tank extends exteriorly of the tank and has one end connected to the bottom of the tank, and its other end extends to the uppermost level of the tank. The height of liquid in the tank may be determined by placing a gage or stick through the upper end of the gage pipe and ascertaining where the gage has been contacted by liquid.

An inlet or exhaust pipe 66 is shown connected to the bottom of the tank.

The oil in the tank prevents corrosion of the inside surface of the deck and if the outside of the deck is well protected by paint, then the deck will serve for a long period of time.

Other advantages of my invention are that it is less expensive than units heretofore constructed, it conforms tothe contour of the tank, the pressure of the gas may be controlled and piped to a safe distance away from the tank, and the.

roof can be constructed on the bottom of the tank and tested in a few inches of water.

Although my invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as illustrative rather than limiting, as the invention may be variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a reservoir, a floating pan wherein the pan is comprisedof a plurality of plates of unequal thickness and weight and wherein the outer plates are at a lower surface and are also of a greater thickness and weight than the central portion of the pan the plates having their ends overlapping a portion of the next adjacent plate.

2. In a liquid storage tank, the combination of a tank and a floating deck, said tank including a vertically extending wall and a rod spaced a short distance from said wall, and a substantially taut cable connected to said deck and to said rod whereby the deck adjacent its peripheral edge will-not rotate about its axis.

3.-In a reservoir, a floatable deck wherein the deck is comprised of a plurality of plates of unequal thickness and weight and wherein the outermost plates of the deck are at a lower level a and are, also, of a greater thickness and weight than the plates 01' the central portion of the deck whereby the upper surface waters will drain towards the peripheral edge.

4. In a reservoir, a drain, a floating pan, a drain pipe connected to said drain and pan the rim of the pan comprising a plurality of plates of an unequal thickness and weight, the thickest and heaviest plates being positioned at the drains and drain pipes and the thinnest and lightest plates positioned the farthest away from the drains and drain pipes.

5. In a reservoir, a pan bottomcomprising a central area of lightweight plates, and several succeeding areas of platesof increasing weight.

6. In a reservoir, a pan including a bottom comprising heavy plates secured together and constituting a peripheral area, other plates of less weight secured together and to the adjacent ones of the otherplates and constituting an outer intermediate area, other plates of still less weight. secured together and to the second named plates and constituting an inner intermediate area, and another plate of less weight than the last named ones and secured to said last named plates and constituting a central area.

7. In a reservoir, a pan including a bottom comprising heavy plates secured together and constituting a peripheral area, other plates of less weight secured together and to adjacent ones of the heavier plates with a number of the lighter plates extending into the peripheral area at diametrically opposite locations and constituting an outer intermediate area of irregular contour, other plates of still less weight secured together and to adjacent ones of the second named plates and constituting an inner intermediate area, and another plate of less weight than the last named ones and secured to said last named plates and constituting a central area.

8. In combination, a tank and floating roof, said tank including a narrow stationary root and a depending flange carried by the inner circumierence of said stationary roof, said floating roof including a deck comprised of a plurality of plates different weight than those of the cen-- tral portion ofsaid deck, and a rim at the periphery of the deck, said depending flange extending down inside of the pan into liquid contained in said pan to form a. seal.

9. In combination, a tank and floating roof, said floating roof having a heavier periphery than central portion so that the periphery will sink lower in the tank liquid than said central portion and provide a water holding space, means on the tank to project into said space, and means to seal the space between the floating root and tank.

10. In a liquidstorage tank, the combination with a tank and a floating deck, of a rod in the tank of! its center, and a substantially taut cable slidably connected to said rod and attached to u said deck of! its center.

JOHN ELLIOT! JONES.

00 11. In a liquid storage tank, the combination 

